Madcap Frenzy: graphic design, DIY and everything in-between: November 2012

So we are homeowners...officially. It's weird to say that. Homeowners.
It was a LONG ride- 5 days shy of 9 months since our first offer on the house back at the end of January. Our house was a short sale (NOTHING SHORT about a Short sale!). It was extremely stressful and frustrating to say the least, leading up to it- a WHOLE lot of waiting, and then rushing at the end. I plan to do a long post about the process later, but right now I'm worn out about thinking about it today, with it being Election Day and I'm on the edge of my seat to see who's our next president.
But we are officially all in our new home, just a LOT of unpacking needing to happen. Our new bed and couch are coming Friday, so we have to get a lot of unpacking done before then to have room for the new furniture. We also probably want to get completely unpacked (or at least all but my craft room) before we head to Michigan, being a friend is staying at our house to house-sit and cat-sit for us.
After all the stress, it was worth it- we got a great deal on a house otherwise way out of our league, we got a great interest rate (3.25% 30-year fixed) and got a lot of help from our bank and the county, so we lucked out super well on closing day. We now are super close to both our jobs, and own a home all on our own. Scary, but happy at the same time.

As far as crafty things go, not a lot happening, since we've been in home mode. Also, literally a day after we had our large moving day, Hurricane Sandy hit. We lost power in our new home, and suffered some tree damage and fence damage, but nothing nearly as bad as some folks. It did stink to have only spent a single day in the house with power before the hurricane hit and we lost it for 3 days. Got it back on for 2 days, then lost it for another half a day before it came back on. It was interesting to say the least, considering I still had to go to work- being I work for a newspaper.

(sitting in candlelight, waiting out the storm)

(fence fell in the hurricane, among other things)

(amazing thing- this rose was the only flower that survived the hurricane, and it looked SO beautiful with water droplets on it!)

(The first thing put up in the new house- our liquor cabinet...haha...was good in the hurricane)

Lots of candles. Luckily I found the candles right when we moved in and when packing I kept them out on top. :D

Another cool thing about our new home, is seeing the history of the area. I came across these pics on the website for our town- they have an annual Memorial Day parade. They walk down our street every year for the parade. Here are some OLD photos (like early 1920s, or earlier). You see our neighbor's house in the back center. Our house was built on the empty lot at the right corner. The last photo is 2001 (I think), with our house, sitting on the corner with the white picket fence. Our house was a blank lot for so many years, and then was built in 1994. Amazing that no house stood there ever!